Oh yes I love what you did there. We just need the combo duel and adapt the two together. I'm excited, I love how Lenore had a little crush on Milo.

lol You made him right up her alley. Fashionable, confidents, and dramatic.

want to try the team up duel part? Have time?

Sure :)

Lenore and Terry were crouched behind their barrier but it wouldn't hold forever.

"Exactly what I was thinking." She answered. "We've both been dueling silently right? When I get Samuel in a good position, I'll cast a curse out loud. Come in with whatever you've got when you hear it. Maybe that lasso spell you mentioned? I'll follow your lead from there."

(OOC: I think I wrote a lot! lol got into it- we can change if you want)

"Alright, sounds like a great clue. Let's do this!" The barrier eventually didn't held too long and the opponents quickly begin their game once again, it looked as they were dancing since each had their own special style and stance, their movements were quite matched at this point each side attacking and blocking with all their might.

"Give it up girlies, you two are no match - save some embarrassment to your school and accept defeat." Milo once again tried to get on their nerves but Terry kept her calm and her stoic face. "No change in that face huh? Take this!" He sent like a dozen spells at once without any mercy. "Confundo! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus! Serpensortia!"

When the snake appeared forward Milo was sure Terry would flip, instead she simply said. "Bombarda!" And it exploded immediately, as a response she made a spell that unfortunately for him hit him. "Redactum Skullus" Milus head become small and the laughter from the audience couldn't be heard but the faces said it all. "Now who is smirking?"

Milo got upset and fixed his head immediately. "Engorgio Skullus." He was surprised she hit him and looked on Samuel's direction just to find him busy with Lenore, it was enough distraction for Terry to take a quick last minute change of plans- hit Milo first. As if Lenore could hear her thoughts, the girl switch tactics of riding first of Samuel and instead both attack Milo.

Lenore dove out of the barrier just as it disintegrated. She took her stance against Samuel and began the fight again, this time waiting for an opening. She could hear Terry fighting with Milo, who seemed to be much more talkative than her own opponent. A jet of light passed just over her ear and she could smell something burned. If she had to repair her hair after this she was going to be very annoyed. She sent back another volley of curses and managed to hit Samuel in the arm with a swelling charm. His grip on his wand sipped as his fingers ballooned like sausages. She was about to signal Terry to come in for the attack when she heard Milo give an angry yell. Looking over she saw that Terry had shrunk Milo's head. He didnt look nearly as attractive that way. Terry had aimed her wand again at Milo as he fixed his own head and Lenore understood her plan. Milo had been caught off-guard first and Samuel couldn't defend him.

"Petrificus totalus!" She yelled, pointing her wand at Milo. She saw Terry send her own curse and suddenly Milo was hanging upside down as though suspended by a rope. On top of that, he was completely petrified.

Lenore turned on Samuel who was just managing to deflate his arm with his non-wand hand. "Now for this one."

OOC: i hope it's ok that I described Terry's lasso curse? If not, feel free to change it.

Oh yeah that was fine.

Terry yelled "Pedes ligatum" toward Milo as Lenore petrified him, one was down and one more to go, she was confident they could do it especially when the man was having problems of his own. "Stupefy!" She directed her hit to Samuel who was hit and destroyed by Lenore and her knock down spell - it made him fall back and roll on the floor, surely that ended the glasses guy. "Alright! You literally kicked his behind."

OOC: I wasn't sure how you wanted to end Samuel - we can change that and make him recover and get back up or completely change it.

Works for me.

With both men petrified, the girls had as good as won. Just to be safe though.

"Expeliarmus." Lenore said calmly, taking Milo's wand. Stepping up close, she whispers in his ear, "Too bad I couldn't have dueled you one on one, cutie."

"You want to do the honors?" She asked Terry nodding at Samuel who was still holding his wand in his petrified hand.

"My pleasure." She did step in front of Samuel and disarmed him. "Expeliarmus!" The wand flew off his hands and she took it. "Too bad you can't read how we beat you at your right office."

The cheers could now be heard now that the silicing spell was down and that was something she wanted to hear.

I think we've got it!

How do you want to do the draft for the post? Swap from one point of view to the other? Or do a third-person viewpoint and write as one story?

I think one story would look more smoothly yet going from one pov to the other shows each work and could be more active. Still it could also be more messy or confusing. I'm fine with either way- we can do a combination maybe? Like do introductions and closing in 3rd person and dueling in pov.

What do u think? Maybe 3rd person is more clean...how do u feel about it?

I think third person would be cleaner looking myself so that would be my preference. How about we do that and then if you think we should change part of it to pov we could change it after?

We should be able to see both styles of work easily enough. Just our girl's reactions and dialogue are unique to each of us and I think it shows. Would you like to do the first draft of the combined story? I could then add in details and see where we're at?

I can work on it tomorrow and post it here when it's ready and you can check and change anything needed. I'm off to sleep now, goodnight and great work! :D

Sounds great! I have a busy day tomorrow but will be on in the evening. Goodnight, and sleep well! We accomplished a lot :D

Here is the first draft, I know it has much to fix but putting the parts together was not as easy as I wanted. Twilight I made a few changes in order to fit the parts better, feel free to change edit what you don't like and of course the grammar! XD [spoiler=Draft1] Lenore hears the explanation for this next challenge and a small smile creeps onto her lips. She was confident that she could not only complete this challenge but give the students watching a good show. Dueling was her specialty. Of course, she would have preferred to be going it alone. If her partner dragged her down she wasn't going to be happy.

Maybe I could just stun her and fight both of our opponents? Lenore wondered. She shook this thought away. The judges had asked them to work as a team. She would have to do it, bothersome as it was. Sighing quietly, she resigned herself to the inevitable and approached her fellow Hogwarts champion, Theresa.

As Teresa listened to the second task instructions her eyes rolled, why she had to put up with another person? She didn't even knew this other champion properly or knew anything about her strengths and weaknesses. Team work would be harder than completing the task and beating the opponents. Where is my luck? I thought challenges were an individual thing. 

Watching the other girl getting closer to her Terry thought: Here she comes, what annoying thing she would say now? "What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?" Lenore asked matter-of-factly.

And as she predicted the girl Leonore or Lenore -whatever her name was- said something that instantly annoyed Terry. "I want to ask exactly the same; don't want you dragging me down on this task so we better win because I don't like losing." After a sigh she replied. "My strength in dueling is defense but I'm also good at attacks, my specialty is the lasso spell which will leave my opponent hanging upside down tied up on a magical rope. It's hilarious and genius. Now you tell me yours."

Lenore was slightly taken aback at the comment"...don't want you dragging me down on this task..." but as Terry continued to explain her strengths it hardly mattered. The lasso spell that Terry had mentioned was fairly advanced and dead useful. And the girl obviously wasn't one to waste time on formality which was just fine with Lenore.

"I take the offensive whenever possible. I hit hard and watch for weaknesses which can be exploited. Everyone has them so don't miss an opportunity to let your enemy's shortcomings do the work for you." Lenore realized that she had just quoted her father word-for-word. This made her feel both scared and proud though she didn't let either emotion show. Instead she narrowed her eyes and looked Terry over thoughtfully.

Terry nods liking what Lenore was saying about her abilities. "Observation is a great quality and very useful, I normally don't attack fiercely too fast while I learn the opponent's vulnerability yet some people are harder to read and we don't want to underestimate anyone. If we do, it can be our ruin that is why I prefer to go slower on duels but I suppose each has their own technique...somehow we have to make it work for our team work. I'm not a fan of team work, I admit, but since we have to do it, it's better if we try." 

The girl had a mass of purple hair and glasses that made her look anything but threatening. This is what I'm working with? Lenore knew that appearances could be deceiving. She used her own small size and pretty face to her advantage all the time. Now she just hoped that this was the case with her partner.

"Can you put up a decent shield?" she asked.

When Lenore asked if she could make a decent shield, as if she was not capable of making one for sure, she raised her right brow. "Excuse me? I said my strength was defense and shields are one of my specialties, now can YOU make a decent shield? I like taking by surprise my opponent too by doing mental spells so they have no idea what I will throw at them, we can do a general practice of attack and defense spells to make sure we have it all covered, in fact if you want to duel me now we can do that." She smirks feeling confident. "Oh wait, we can't because we have to fight our opponents very soon. I think we should just each pick one and go ahead and defeat them as quickly as possible because we have more probabilities that way than team work without practice." She was quite frustrated with the team work idea especially with only half an hour to get ready, you can't learn team work in half an hour. Then it occurred to her. "If we take down the defense first then the aggressive would be without any since the defense one can do both and without defense his or hers probabilities are low."

Lenore just stared for a moment after Terry's little outburst. She had asked a question, she hadn't meant to offend the girl. Things could get heated pretty fast here. she thought. She was glad that she wasn't easily angered and could keep a cool head.

"Just wanted to be sure of what I was getting into" Lenore said. She completely ignored the question about the shield charm. "You're right, we don't have time to practice so if we're better at dueling alone, let's do it that way." She thought for a moment and then added, "I'll take out the defense. If you're specialty is defending, I want-... sorry, you may want to take on the aggressor."

Terry nods to the other champion, at least they got something planned. "Very well, let's hope the other two are a good match." She then said. "I'm sorry if I was a bit too harsh, I tend to get irritated easily and working out of my comfort zone doesn't help either." With a calm expression she extended her hand. "Let's do this, Hogwarts depends on us."

Lenore takes the girl's hand and smiles. "Then we won't let them down."

Lenore and Terry parted ways. There was still a bit of time left before the duel started so Lenore began to mentally prepare herself. She needed to get into the right state of mind if she was to function properly. This is the wrong outfit. She thought to herself. Clothing always changed her mood and her standard school uniform just wasn't doing anything to make her feel like a champion. She raised her wand and summoned a few items from her dormitory. It took them a few minutes to make their way down to the clearing but when they did, they flew neatly stacked into her arms. Among them were a green cape, gloves, and over-the-knee boots. Taking the lot, Lenore ducked behind some nearby trees and cast a disillusionment charm on herself. The warm, trickling sensation that began at her head and made its way down her body told her that she would be safe from prying eyes. Quickly she changed into her new outfit, took the charm off of herself, and stepped out of the cover of the trees.

Newly clothes and starting to feel more at ease with the upcoming challenge (the challenge being teamwork, not dueling), Lenore looked around at the crowd. The excitement over this task was higher than for the first by a long shot. Dueling was much for fun to watch than potion brewing and every student here knew it. There were already banners waving over the crowds, cheering on the champions from various schools. Lenore smiled and was glad that she was separated from the main of the student body. Being part of that large, noisy crowd would have driven her mad.

When it came time to enter the dueling stages, Lenore took a deep breath. She pulled a couple of chocolate cauldrons from her pocket and popped one into her mouth. She bit into it and felt the fire whiskey pool out, sending a warm sensation down her throat. A little whiskey helps anything. She thought with just a hint of a grin.

Terry was not someone to get nervous with tasks, she felt confident enough to succeed but she didn't feel at peace with this task in particular because of the partnership. In her mind she didn't think of her family or friends, she only revise all the spells, charms, and defense spells she knew as if she suddenly had forgotten. Time to move. She looked up to where the headmistress was, and once Appoline Persnickety was spotted she knew where her dueling area was. The other students were moving to their spaces and some were already inside. The idea of being trapped didn't seem appealing to her yet those were the rules. Surely she would have been more calmed if the task was an individual one, but for some evil reason they have decided to test team work. How cute.  She thought with sarcasm as she crossed the somehow chilly barrier. Lenore followed Terry to where Professor Persnickety stood and stepped into the Hogwarts area step-in-step with the other girl. The invisible barrier wavered for a moment as their bodies passed through it. To Lenore it felt a lot like stepping through cool water and she half-expected to come out the other side wet. She found herself to be completely dry however and turned to face the center of the space.

With steady steps Terry moved to the center of the dueling area and looked to her companion once inside. “One more minute till the opponents arrive.” She informed Lenore without knowing if she cared for the information or not, or if she already knew.

Lenore heard Terry from her side and just tossed her a chocolate cauldron in response.

Terry didn't know what to do with the cauldron cake so she put it in her mouth and chew it. “Thanks, this will fire me up, could use a bit of water...oh I know.” She used her wand to conjure water with the Aguamenti Spell then waits for the event to start.

Thirty minutes exactly after the announcement of the second task the opponents entered the sealed space, they were two young men one around his twenties and the other his early thirties. They didn't knew which one was the aggressive or the defensive one so they would have to find out as they fight. If they were lucky, things would go as planned but the opponents were older and more experienced than them so it won't be an easy task at all. “Greetings ladies, my name is Milo, and I will be one of your opponents. Good luck beating me.” Milo was the youngest of the two and he curtsied as he introduces himself and smirks after his last words.

The older man introduced himself after Milo with a slight bow to them and only a few words. “My name is Samuel, pleasure.”

After the minute had passed, their opponents entered the arena. Lenore wasn't sure what she had expected but was surprised to see two men, both adults, come face to face with herself and Terry. One looked to be at least thirty and had large glasses that hid a slightly pompous expression that made Lenore wince. Wow, can someone say office job? The second one was tall with hair that was spiked up artfully, a sleeveless shirt of mostly pink that showed off his arms beautifully, and a confident grin that made Lenore's heart skip a beat. He introduced himself with a curtsey and a smirk. Lenore realized she had stopped breathing entirely. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced her breath back into a normal rhythm. Get it together, Lenore. You are not going to lose this to a pretty face.

Terry found Milo annoying instantly, it made her irk when he said good luck beating me as if he was unbeatable, and no one was unbeatable. “I'm Teresa,” She coldly said. “Good luck to you too.” There was a blank expression on her face as she bows which Milo thought was nervousness but it was just her natural state. A whistle blew and all double duels started at the same time, the public cheered and the students screamed for their favorite champions making the noise very distracting. “Wish those shields were sound proof.” Terry smirked and protected her area from the outside noise so it wouldn't distract neither of them. Lenore was a moment behind due to clearing her head after the arrival of the opponents and when she raised her wand to cast a silencing charm over the area, she found that Terry had beaten her to it. She was grateful for the quiet that descended. She was grateful also that Terry had chosen to duel the tall, smirking man (Milo, as he had introduced himself). She would be less distracted trying to take down Mr. Office Job. 

Terry decided to take on the opponent in front of her to wipe the silly grin off his face, so Lenore would have to take the other guy with the glasses. Her first attack was a simple “Expeliarmus!” but the opponent easily dodge it.

“Best you can do? I fear for you then – that was very pathetic.” Milo smirks and attacks making for Terry to quickly defend herself. She decided to let him attack and see how he played and dedicated to observe his moves and tendencies, plus the feel of his strength. “Aren't you going to try beat me? This is getting boring, I may start playing hard if you don't get out of your comfort zone.”

“You talk too much smirk boy.” Terry simply said with her usually emotionless face but send him an attack so fast he didn't expected it and made him jump in order to dodge it. 

“Now you are getting serious, come at me girly – don't waste my time.” He attacked more fiercely, sending spell after spell in fast speed but Terry dodge each spell he sent -even whens he did fell once- and even managed to attack between defenses, but she was really not going anywhere. Milo was stronger than he looked which made Terry irritated simply because he wouldn't shut up. “Do you ever change your expression? Give me a smile, hey, even a growl would do.”

“Silence, look it up in the dictionary. Would do you good to learn the meaning.” Terry said without emotion.

“Dueling 101, it would do you good learning it.” Milo smirks again and was sure the girl was pissed even when he couldn't read her. An avalanche of spells rain on her and he threw a few toward Lenore as well but Terry managed to cover her since she was busy enough with the glasses guy. “Not so bad for a little girl.”

Lenore quickly put up a barrier in front of herself and shot out a couple of hexes over the top. She hit first with the furnunculus curse and followed right after with blinding hex. Her opponent countered both effortlessly and then sent out a counter-curse to shield his partner from whatever Terry had thrown at him. 

"You're quicker than you look." Lenore said as she sent off another curse, this one meant to slow the victim's movements. "Is that office-clerk look of yours just for show?"

The man dodged the curse by ducking to the side. When he answered it was in a high nasally voice. "You can learn a lot if you work in the right office." He countered a few more spells then put up a rather thick shield with a blue-ish hue. "You're Lenore Addlebourne, born October the 12th, seventeen years ago to Tacitus and Estela Addlebourne." he recited, "Originally from London, relocated to Barron's Hollow, Scotland. Old family, scarred history. Excels in innate magical ability. Do you get that from your parents or is it from your Uncle? What was his name, Dar-?"

"Enough!" Lenore shouted. "You're dealing with me here, not my family, so let's forgo the history lesson." And keep quiet about my uncle too if you know what's good for you. Lenore shot a couple of silencing charms in succession and one hit home. "Now how about telling me a little about you?

The man unsilenced himself and said simply, "Samuel, Criminal Records Department." He then proceeded to change up tactics and shot a body-bind curse at Lenore. She blocked it but was nearly hit by a jinx that had flown in from Terry's side of the arena. She looked up to see that the other opponent was now firing spells not just at Terry , but at her as well. He and Samuel were now only feet from one another and working seamlessly together.

Terry tried finding an opening in order to attack him, but the guy was really good and her strategy was taking her anywhere and as she could see Lenore had no luck either. The glasses guy was not only defending smirk boy, he was attacking Lenore. Lenore waved her wand out lik

Wow! That looks amazing, you did a great job piecing it all together. I'll be on a bit later and will get the grammar to flow more correctly and then pass it back to you for anything you want to add/change. :)

Thanks, it took me a while to match things and try to make it less rpg style yet I know it still needs work. I was too tired yesterday to continue so since I made a few changes I wanted you to check it first. Plus you are far better at grammar and flow. ^__^

Sorry this took so long! I have the first part of it done and will post the rest soon. I wanted to give you what I have so you can add to it or change anything you don't like.

Ohh I really like what you did there, it is much better- the flow of the events and feel to the story. Since we did it separately it felt a bit choppy but you totally fixed it! :D I didn't see mistakes at first read but will check again later just to make sure. I'll have more time for details later. Great work!!

Thanks! I'll do some double-checking and editing too. I know I'll want to add more details as I re-read it. For now, here's the full thing. Feel free to change anything. If I've edited Terry's lines in any way that's out of character let me know!

I'm going to include the code version for you as well for the sake of italics.

Eyes, m'dear?

[spoiler=Draft]

As the headmasters announced the specifics of the second task, the two champions from Hogwarts listened. Though their reactions differed, their thoughts were the same: Teamwork was not going to be fun. Terry rolled her eyes while Lenore narrowed hers. Both of them sighed.

The girls looked across the clearing and spotted one another but it was Lenore who took the plunge and moved first. As she walked toward her fellow champion, she wondered whether she could just stun the girl and get on with the duel on her own.

“Probably wouldn’t be allowed.” she said under her breath. “Shame.”

Terry, who had been spared the ordeal of actually approaching her teammate, waited where she was and worked through her own thoughts. Where is my luck? I thought challenges were an individual thing? She hated the idea of being forced to deal with another person, especially one that she didn’t know properly. What were her strengths? Her weaknesses? She saw that the girl was getting close and wondered what annoying thing she would say when she got there.

“What are your best and worst points?” Lenore asked matter-of-factly and without preamble.

Terry’s expression didn’t change but the light that flashed in her eyes spoke to her irritation. As expected, this blonde girl (What was her name? Leonore? Lenore?) had said something to instantly annoy her.

“I wanted to ask you exactly the same,” Terry snapped. “I don’t want you dragging me down on the task, so we had better win because I don’t like losing.” After a sigh she added, a bit more composedly, “My strength in dueling is defense but I’m also good at attacks. My specialty is the lasso spell which will leave my opponent hanging upside down, tied up by a magical rope. It’s hilarious and genius. Now you tell me yours.”

Lenore was slightly taken aback at the comment “…don’t want you dragging me down…” but as Terry went on to explain her strengths she forgot about the rudeness. The lasso spell that Terry had mentioned was fairly advanced and dead useful. And the girl obviously wasn’t one to waste time on formality which was just fine with Lenore.

“I take the offensive whenever possible. I hit hard and watch for weaknesses which can be exploited. Everyone has them so don’t miss an opportunity to let your enemy’s shortcomings do the work for you.” Lenore realized that she had just quoted her father word-for-word. This made her feel both scared and a bit proud at the same time, though she didn’t let either of those emotions show. Instead she allowed her eyes to move up and down, looking over Terry thoughtfully, as though assessing a painting or a new piece of furniture before buying. What she saw didn’t impress her. The girl had a mass of purple hair and glasses that made her look anything but threatening. Not seeming to notice or care that she was being silently appraised, Terry continued the conversation.

“Observation is a great quality and very useful. I don’t normally attack fiercely at first so I can take the time to learn my opponent’s vulnerability. Of course, some people are harder to read than others and we don’t want to underestimate anyone. If we do, it can be our ruin which is why I prefer to go slower on duels.” She paused. “But I suppose each has their own technique.” She said this last part slowly, obviously not impressed with Lenore’s ‘hit hard and fast’ style. After a moment, she added. Somehow we have to make this work. I’m not a fan of team play, I admit, but since we have to do it, it’s better if we make an effort.”

“I agree with that part wholeheartedly.” Lenore said. She pursed her lips and resumed her appraisal of the other Hogwarts champion. “Can you make a decent shield?”

“Excuse me?” Terry raised her right brow. Being asked if she could make a decent shield, as if her capability was even a question, had insulted her. “I said my strength was defense and shields are one of my specialties. Now, can YOU make a decent shield? Actually, don’t answer that. I’ll just duel you now and find out.” she smirked. “Oh wait, we can’t now. You have to be in one piece when the task starts.”

Lenore just stared for a moment after Terry’s little outburst. She had asked a question, she hadn’t meant to offend the girl. She noted mentally that she would need to be careful not to set Terry off. Fortunately, Lenore wasn’t quick tempered and could keep a cool head.

“Just wanted to be sure of what I was getting into.” Lenore said calmly. She completely ignored the question about the shield charm and the threat. “And we don’t have time for a practice duel anyway.”

Terry regained her composure with a rapidity that surprised Lenore.

“You’ve probably figured it out by now but we can’t exactly learn teamwork in a half hour.” Terry said. “I think we should just pick one opponent each and defeat them as quickly as possible because we have more probabilities that way than trying teamwork without practice.”

Lenore nodded her agreement. “You’re right. If we’re both better at working alone then it makes sense to do it that way.” She thought for a moment and then added, “I’ll take out the defense. If you’re specialty is defending, I want-… sorry, you may want to take on the aggressor.”

It was Terry’s turn to nod. They finally had something planned, even if it wasn’t much.

“Very well, let’s hope the two we have to fight are a good match for us. Wouldn’t want this to be boring.” She paused and then said, “I’m sorry if I was a bit too harsh. I tend to get irritated easily and working out of my comfort zone doesn’t help either.” With a calm expression she extended her hand. “Let’s do this, Hogwarts depends on us.”

Lenore took the girl’s hand and smiled. “Then let’s give them a good show.”

Lenore and Terry parted ways. There was still a bit of time left before the duel started so Lenore began to mentally prepare herself. She needed to get into the right state of mind if she was to function properly. The first thing that she needed was to get into the right outfit. Clothing always changed her mood and her standard school uniform just wasn't doing anything to make her feel like a champion. She raised her wand and summoned a few items from her dormitory. It took them a few minutes to make their way down to the clearing but when they did, they flew neatly stacked into her arms. Among them were a green cape, gloves, and over-the-knee boots. Taking the lot, Lenore ducked behind some nearby trees and cast a disillusionment charm on herself. The warm, trickling sensation that began at her head and made its way down her body told her that she would be safe from prying eyes. Quickly she changed into her new outfit, took the charm off of herself, and stepped out of the cover of the trees. 

Newly clothed and starting to feel more at ease with the upcoming challenge (the challenge being teamwork, not dueling), Lenore looked around at the crowd. The excitement over this task was higher than for the first by a long shot. Dueling was much for fun to watch than potion brewing and every student here knew it. There were already banners waving over the crowds, cheering on the champions from various schools. Lenore smiled and was glad that she was separated from the main of the student body. Being part of that large, noisy crowd would have driven her mad. 

A little ways off, Terry was doing some preparation of her own. She was not someone to get nervous when it came to tasks. She felt confident enough that she would succeed. This task in particular, however, she was certainly not at peace with due simply to the partnership aspect. To calm herself she didn’t think of family or friends. Instead, she revised all of the spells, charms, and defensive magic that she knew. It was not as though she was likely to forget any of it under pressure but it helped all the same.

After she had finished her review, covering not nearly all that she knew, but enough to satisfy herself, Terry turned to where the three dueling areas had been set up. Once she spotted Appoline Persnickety, she knew where the Hogwarts duel would be. It was the one in the center. She saw that the champions from the other two schools were moving toward their own areas, their own headmaster or headmistress standing sentinel. The idea of being trapped didn’t seem appealing to her yet those were the rules of the task. She thought again of how much calmer she would be if the task had been an individual one, but for some evil reason the judges had decided to test teamwork. How cute. she thought with sarcasm.

Lenore stepped up beside her teammate and looked at the area before them. It was almost time. She pulled a couple of chocolate cauldrons from her pocket and popped one into her mouth. She bit into it and felt the fire whiskey pool out, sending a warm sensation down her throat. She grinned.

As if as one, the two girls stepped up to their platform and through the barrier, which wavered slightly as their bodies touched it. Terry shuddered a bit and Lenore’s eyes widened. It felt a lot like stepping through cool water and neither girl would have been surprised to come out the other side wet. They found themselves completely dry however and stepped into the center of the platform.

“One more minute until our opponents arrive.” Terry informed Lenore without knowing if she cared for the information or not. Probably she already knew. Lenore just tossed her a chocolate cauldron in response. Terry caught it and wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with it. It was easiest just to eat it so she put it in her mouth and chewed. It wasn’t bad.

“Thanks, that will fire me up a bit.” she said. “Though it’s water that I could really use…oh, I know.” She used her wand to conjure water with the Aguamenti spell, catching it neatly in a glass which appeared in midair. She offered some to Lenore who just shook her head and then they both waited for the duel to start.

Thirty seconds exactly after the announcement of the second task, the opponents entered the sealed space. They were two men, both adults and both fairly young. But that’s where their similarities ended. One of them, who looked to be roughly thirty, was rather short and had large glasses that hid a slightly pompous expression that instantly made Lenore wince. Terry, on the other hand, took little outward notice of him; her eyes were fixed on the second man. He was tall tall with hair that was spiked up artfully, a sleeveless shirt of mostly pink that showed off his toned arms, and a confident grin.

“Greetings ladies, my name is Milo and I will be one of your opponents.” the second man introduced himself. “Good luck beating me. With his last words he curtsied and smirked.

The older man simply gave a small stiff bow and said, “Samuel. It’s a pleasure.”

Lenore didn’t even hear Samuel introduce himself. The moment that Milo had begun to speak, her heart had skipped and she had felt a subtle warmth creep up in her cheeks. He was gorgeous. As he finished with his little curtsy, what was warmth in her cheeks became full flames and she had had to squeeze her eyes shut tightly. She took a deep breath, the first she had taken since Milo had stepped into the area, she mentally chided herself. Get it together, Lenore! You are not going to lose this to a pretty face.

Terry’s reaction to Milo was equally as strong but in the exact opposite direction. She found the man annoying instantly. It irked her when he had said ’good luck beating me’ as if he were unbeatable, and no one was unbeatable.

“Good luck to you too.” Terry responded, looking directly at Milo with a bland expression on her face and a slow bow. Milo took her lack of expression for nervousness but in truth, this was just her natural state. Without even a glance at what she was doing, Terry raised her wand and cast a silencing charm over the area. That would help both girls to be less distracted.

Samuel had been momentarily forgotten, outshone by his more flamboyant partner. But then the whistle blew and there was no more forgetting. All four duelist sprang into action.

Both girls knew the details of the task. One opponent would be the aggressor and one would be defense. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to figure out which one was which before the duel started and therefore, couldn’t guarantee that they were each fighting their chosen type.

At this first juncture, luck was in their favor. Terry had instinctively faced Milo the second the whistle sounded, just for the chance to wipe the silly grin off his face, and he had responded with a volley of offensive spells. She countered them quickly. This was the one she wanted. Her first attack was a simple disarming spell which he easily dodged.

“Best you can do?” Milo smirked. “I fear for you then - that was very pathetic.” He attacked again, making Terry take the defensive. She decided to let him go ahead and play while she observed his moves and tendencies, as well as get a feel for his strength.

“Aren’t you going to try to beat me?” He asked in response to her lack of attack. “This is getting boring, I may start playing hard if you don’t get out of your comfort zone.”

“You talk too much boy.” Terry said simply, with her usual emotionless face, but she sent out an attack so fast and unexpected that he had to jump in order to doge it.

“Now you’re getting serious. Come at me girly - don’t waste my time.” He attacked more fiercely, sending spell after spell at high speed but Terry dodged each one - even when she had to fall to the ground to do so - and even managed to attack between defenses. Still, she was making no real progress. Milo was stronger than he looked which just irritated her more. And he still wouldn’t shut up.

“Do you ever change your expression, girlie? Give me a smile. Hey, even a growl would do.” He winked.

“Silence.” Terry said, still without emotion. “Look it up in the dictionary. Would do you good to learn the meaning.”

“Dueling 101. It would do you good to learn the tactics.” Milo responded with another of his smirks. He couldn’t read the girl but was pretty sure she was pissed. He rained down an avalanche of spells over Terry and even shot a few toward Lenore but Terry covered her quickly since she was busy with glasses guy.

“Not so bad for a little girl.” Milo commented.

On the other side of the arena, Lenore was busy with Samuel. She had been a moment late in starting as she had still been trying to get Milo out of her head. She raised her wand to cast a silencing charm only to find that Terry had already done it. She was grateful for the quill and even more grateful that Terry had chosen to fight Milo, not only because he had turned out to be the aggressor but also because she would be less distracted by him. Now she turned her attention to the guy with the glasses.

She put up a barrier in front of herself and shot out a couple of hexes over the top. She hit first with the furnunculus curse and followed right after with the blinding hex. Her opponent counted then effortlessly and then sent out a counter-curse to shield his partner from whatever Terry had thrown at him.

“You’re quicker than you look.” Lenore said as she sent off another curse, this one meant to slow the victim’s movements. “Is that office-clerk look of yours just for show then?”

The man dodged the curse by ducking to the side. When he answered it was in a high nasally voice.

“You can learn a lot if you work in the right office.” He countered a few more spells then put up a rather thick shield with a bluefish hue. “You’re Lenore Addlebourne, born October the 12th seventeen years to to Tacitus and Estela Addleboune.” he decided. “Originally from London, relocated to Barron’s Hollow, Scotland. Old family, scarred history. Excels in innate magical ability. Do you get that from your parents or is it from your Uncle? What was his name, Dar-?”

“En